


once upon a time I loved a star

by Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eren Yeager Has Heterochromia Iridum, Eren needs a hug, Everyone Needs A Hug, I'm so sorry, Levi Needs a Hug, Levi-centric (Shingeki no Kyojin), M/M, Reincarnation, someone save these poor boys, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 22:37:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3706481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams/pseuds/Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They killed Humanity's Hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	once upon a time I loved a star

**Author's Note:**

> ahahahaha I am trash

i.

Levi stares blankly at the beaming sun, dark shadows a stain of exhaustion and defeat scrawled just below the curve of his eyes. The light touches the city around him with hesitant fingers, searching the earth as if seeking out a treasure once lost. It lights the shadows and rids the world of the darkness that had settled around them like a blanket. Sunlight used to mean danger. Sunlight used to tell them that the Titans were up again, ready to tear them from their cozy homes and happy lives and shove them down their ugly maws for the thrill of it.

Sunlight used to mean danger. Now it's too fucking happy.

 

ii.

 _The titans are gone,_ people say, the news spreading like tentative sparks, just waiting to find the right kindling to burn the entire forest down. _The titans are gone and we're safe once more._

The words come from the lips of people who don't know the meaning of the word danger, who hadn't watched their comrades die violent deaths, who don't understand the sacrifices it took, the bodies they had to walk over, to get them their supposed 'safety'. The words come from ignorance and the stupidity of those who believe that there is an actual safety in this cruel world where people are the true monsters.

 _(But wait,_ someone whispers. _Isn't there still one left? Isn't the boy--)_

Idiots, the lot of them.

 

iii.

"I want to see the ocean," Eren murmurs, soft and sweet, the words like a prayer he's too afraid to send.

Levi, who had vague recollections of rants from Hanji, remembers something about a body of water no one can drink. "Why?"

Eren stares up at him in answer, as if he hadn’t expected a response. His eyes blink slowly, as if afraid to miss a moment, before he smiles. "The ocean is something humanity could never tame. It's huge and beautiful and can never be drained of value."

He scowls. "That's an awful lot of expectations for a puddle of water."

"What makes us any different?" Eren laughs.

 

iiii.

Erwin dies in the sunlight. He dies with blood on his hands and the knowledge that humanity will defeat the titans--that his loved ones will make sure of it.

_(Eren cries into his shoulder for long nights after, guilt heavy in the slump of his shoulders and the shadows under his eyes; Levi can't help but think that he's crying for the both of them)_

 

iiiii.

"I love you, you know." Eren tells him, calm and quiet. It's so unlike him that Levi can't help but pause.

"I know," he says levelly, glancing at the taller male out of the corner of his eye. Eren smiles peacefully back, as if he knows, and continues walking beside him, looking far too relaxed as they near Hanji's office.

 _I love you too,_ Levi's traitorous heart whispers as the doors shut behind them. _I fucking love you too._

 

iiiiii.

"I don't know what I can do," Hanji says, a type of defeat on their face that Levi knows comes with-- with--

"You have to do _something_!" He growls, demands, slamming his hands down on the desk. Hanji barely flinches, eyes hollowed out and pained; they're all still coping with the loss of victory.

"Levi..."

"Eren is down there, with those fucking dogs!" Levi spits, shaking off their sympathy, shaking off the words that are coming, shaking off everything, just fucking _knock it off_ \-- "You can't just give up on him!"

"We might not have a choice."

 

iiiiiii.

"Why do you fight so hard?" Eren asks one day, as always, overstepping boundaries as if they're not even there.

Levi glares. "Don't you have someone else to bother?"

"No."

The answer is so simple, so honest, that he can't help but snort. "Of course."

Silence descends then, and Levi counts in his head, a word on his paperwork for every second. Due--to--the--many--casualties--of--

"So?"

"So?" He repeats flatly.

Eren sighs. "Why do you do it?"

For a moment, Levi stares at him, looks at the pleading glint in his eyes and the actual, real, genuine curiosity there, and considers telling him about the two idiots he'd gotten killed, one so like Eren it hurts. For a minute he considers telling him about Erwin and his schemes and how he had stood in a field slick with rain and blood with no family, no friends, and blood on his hands. He considers telling him how lost he had felt, how sickened and utterly broken he'd been, staring down at papers drenched in lies and blood and how Erwin had offered him a place to go. For a moment he considers the ugly, despicable, god-for-saken truth; and then he discards it. _I didn't know what else to do_ is not what the world wants to hear from Humanity's Strongest, not what Eren wants to hear from his superior-slash-friend-slash-lover.

"Why does anyone else?" He answers cryptically.

_(The sad curve of Eren's smile is disappointed)_

 

iiiiiiii.

"Levi," Eren gasps, voice quivering and choked. "Levi, please--"

He grunts in answer, hips working as he holds Eren's legs up towards his shoulders, bending him in half and fucking him open with sharp, deep, thrusts. The taller male keens with the force, his big green eyes tearing up as he stares at Levi, those brilliant orbs never once leaving his face. The sound he makes as he cums is half a sob, half a moan, hands scrabbling for Levi's with desperate fingers. He catches them with his own, squeezing hard as he shudders out his own release before collapsing down onto the bed.

"Better?" He mumbles, hands still caught in his lover’s despite the awkward angle.

Eren nods. "Thank you."

_(Make me forget, Eren had said)_

 

iiiiiiiii.

 _What if he turns on us?_ A woman whispers.

 _What if it happens again?_ Someone adds.

 _He's part monster!_ Another shouts. _We can't just let him roam free!_

A chorus of agreements spiral up into the air, growing louder and louder with each addition until its no more than a cry for blood.

 _You're the monsters,_ Levi wants to say, thinking of bright green eyes that hold bursts of sunlight in their depths and a wide smile that never fails to make the day brighter. _Does that mean we should put you to death?_

 

iiiiiiiiii.

"Eren," Hanji starts. "I'm so sorry."

The look on Eren's face is enough to make even Levi's heart break--is enough to make _especially_ Levi's heart break. He looks so scared and small in that prison cell, thrown behind bars with shackles around his wrists and ankles. The scene is so reminiscent of their first real interaction that Levi wants nothing more than to step forward, meet his eyes, and tell him that it'll be okay, that he'll take responsibility once more, get him out of here and get him somewhere safe.

"I understand," Eren smiles, eyes squeezed shut against a sheen of tears. The gesture is so fake, already trembling around the edges and barely shedding a single light on the world. "Th-thank you for trying, Commander."

Hanji looks guilty then, guiltier than he's ever seen them, and Levi is viciously, terribly _glad_ , before he remembers that they care too, that this is just as hard for them, if not harder. "Eren--"

"Times up." A guard says gruffly, impassive to the three people falling apart right before his dead eyes.

Levi leaves with the knowledge that he will listen to Eren's cries with no care, and silently ponders what it would feel like to lock _him_ in the cell instead.

 

iiiiiiiiiii.

Erwin would get them out of this. He would know what to do.

 

iiiiiiiiiiii.

"There's a letter for you, sir." A new trainee tells him, handing him an envelope with an official looking seal. "The carrier said it was urgent."

_(Levi opens it in his office, stares at the words on the page for a few long moments, and promptly lights a fire just to watch it burn. The words 'Eren Jeager' and 'executioner' run through his mind over and over again, and he can't help but laugh. They've got to be joking.)_

 

iiiiiiiiiiiii.

They're not joking. 

 

iiiiiiiiiiiii.

"We'll find a way to get out of this," Levi tells him, face pressed tightly into his neck.

"You shouldn't lie, Corporal." Eren murmurs, clutching him close as if he's the only thing keeping him tethered to the world; if he was Levi would tell him to let go, staying wasn't worth it, wasn't worth this. "It doesn't suit you."

"You don't deserve this." Levi answers.

Eren tightens his hold for a moment, as if he wants to crush their ribs together, as if it will keep him there, before he loosens his arms with a heavy sigh. "Promise me something?" He whispers, tears in his eyes as he leans forward, resting his forehead against Levi's.

 _Anything,_ Levi wants to tell him. _I'll promise you anything if you'll just stay._ "What?"

"Be happy."

That's so hilarious he can't help but laugh, the sound choked and painfully rusty. "Happiness died a long time ago for me, kid."

 

iiiiiiiiiiiiii.

They didn't want a lot of the Survey Corps at the execution. Something about not wanting a riot, about them being too close to make a correct decision when emotions were high. They were scared that they'd pull something, that they'd help their monster friend escape and then they'd never be safe again.

Levi wants them to be fucking right for being worried. He wants to say that when Eren comes out, they're going to swoop down on them all like vultures and escape with their prey. He wants to smirk and wield his blades knowing that if anyone tries to hurt Eren he'll cut them down before they can even try.

Instead he watches from the center of the arena, as Eren is walked to him, in chains with no shoes and a pale face that hasn't seen the sun in too long, and is helpless.

A crowd of men and women in green cloaks watch him go, faces angry and stoic at this injustice.

The higher ups were scared but that didn't mean the Survey Corps weren't going to be there for one of their own. Unlike the scum that had pushed for bloodshed, they remembered the sacrifices and they grieved for the loss that was to take place; they would _never_ forget.

 _(Levi takes off his cloak, ignores the disapproval around him and kneels to hook it around Eren's neck. He is a soldier, and he will die as one; they will not take that away from him, they will not be_ allowed _to forget. He will_ make _them remember their monstrosity)_

 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

Eren smiles at him. He smiles as he is forced to kneel, a crowd consisting largely of those who want him dead watching on. He smiles and he cries and he looks at Levi, with the blade in his hand and the cloak gone off his back and now wrapped safely around his own shoulders, and the shadows on his face and the pleas in his eyes, and he says--

 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

"Eren Jeager, member of the Survey Corps, son of Grisha Jeager and last known Titan in existence, you are hereby sentenced to death by order of the people and this court. Do you have anything you wish to say?"

 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

Eren looks at him and says--

 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

"Levi Ackerman, years ago you once took responsibility for Eren Jeager in a setting similar to this. You swore that you could contain the Titan within him and to do what had to be done when the situation called for it. Now we call upon those vows."

 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

He says--

 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

 _"I love you,"_ Levi tells him, soft and vulnerable like he's never been before.

 _"I love you,"_ he says, as he raises the blade forced into his hand.

 _"I love you,"_ his heart screams, as it is cleaved in half, as Eren's head is from his shoulders.

 _"I love you,"_ he grieves, as the world erupts in flames, a wail of grief arising from those watching who actually _remember_ , who see and know the loss of what has just occurred and hate the flames that lick at Eren's body before it is even cooled.

 _"I love you,"_ he whispers, blood flecking his body and blade falling to the ground.

Distantly, he is reminded of a far off time, where he had stood in a field slick with rain and blood and looked at papers made of lies and had had no where to go.

 _I didn't know what else to do,_ his past self thinks.

The sun is too fucking happy.

 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

And Eren says: "You're too good to be cattle, Corporal."

 

i.

Levi stares at the happy male sitting just a few tables away from him with something close to disbelief, shock, pained guilt, and choking happiness. Oblivious to the stare, the other male's tanned hand works smoothly across a piece of white paper, long strokes of colored pencil creating something blue. He isn't smiling, and his eyes are a mismatch of sunlight and grass green, but Levi knows him, knows that if he were to make him smile the world would get just a few shades brighter, that what he's drawing is clearly the ocean, and that he is no longer forced to hide behind walls too big for his curiosity. Levi looks at him, knows him, and he _remembers_.

**Author's Note:**

> Tissues are located on the left *holds out box*
> 
> Cry with me on tumblr? (my101fragiledreams.tumblr.com)


End file.
